Object Description

A ‘Grand Tour’ Casket

Constructed using five Italian polychrome micromosaic plaques incorporated into a lockable casket of pollarded oak of English make; the plaques depict;-
1. The Temples of Saturn and Vespasian situated in the Roman Forum to the front.
2. The ‘Doves of Pliny’ to the top
3. The Pantheon and St Peter’s Square to the sides
4. The Colosseum to the reverse
Circa 1870

Object History

VATICAN MOSAIC WORKSHOP

Studio del Musaico dell Reverenda Fabbrica di S. Pietro (Mosaic Studio of the Reverenced Work Shop of St. Peter’s) was created around 1576 to create architectural mosaics for the new basilica, and was later established as a distinct entity in 1727, supplying these extraordinarily detailed views of Rome to the new industry of ‘tourism’, in the form of table tops, tablets and jewellery.

The ‘Doves of Pliny’ were discovered as part of a floor mosaic in 1737, on the site of Hadrian’s villa.

In the early 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned to design and add two campanile (bell towers) to the Pantheon (All Gods), which was originally constructed in the 1st century BC under the orders of Marcus Agrippa, with 1st century AD modifications at Hadrian’s direction. Called by detractors ‘The Ass Ears of Bernini’, they were removed in 1883. These campanile are depicted in the mosaic in our casket.